WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials, facing harsh criticism over a newly disclosed estimate that the Medicare prescription drug law could cost $134 billion more than expected, on Friday defended the law and sought to turn aside accusations that they had misled lawmakers about the potential expense.
"The Medicare reform we did is good reform," President Bush told reporters. "It fulfills a long-standing promise to our seniors."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan downplayed the $534-billion administration estimate that became public Thursday, which is about 33% higher than the bill's original price tag of $400 billion spread over 10 years. McClellan said the higher estimate represented "a difference of about somewhere in the 1% to 2% range" of total Medicare and Medicaid spending.
But with the federal government facing a record budget deficit, analysts and members of Congress said the controversy could prompt conservative Republican lawmakers to reject some of the president's election-year spending plans.
"They will certainly insist that the president drop any thoughts of new spending initiatives. Mars has probably lost out to Medicare," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group in Virginia.
The higher cost estimate for Medicare "is going to make it far more difficult for [conservatives] to do what they really want to do, which is to cut taxes and make the existing tax cuts permanent," Bixby said.
Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.), who voted for the Medicare bill, said the new cost estimate is "very concerning to those of us who were very reluctant to vote for the bill to begin with." He called on Bush to help Congress "hold the line" on spending.
A congressional Republican aide who spoke on the condition that he not be named said the higher Medicare estimate would test the loyalty of conservative Republicans to the president's agenda.
"The right is steadily getting demoralized," he said.
"This is exactly what conservatives feared," Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who voted against the Medicare bill, said of the apparently ballooning costs.
The new Medicare estimate also prompted some groups to question whether the White House had worked in good faith with Congress on the legislation, which passed the House last year on a narrow 220-215 vote after extensive lobbying to sway conservatives wary of its cost.
